Light Snow Tuesday Prompts Winter Weather Advisory

The air mass accompanying Tuesday's snow chances is arctic in nature, keeping temperatures frigid throughout the day.

Posted: Jan. 15, 2018 7:53 AM

Updated: Jan. 15, 2018 2:54 PM

Posted By: Kate McKenna

Another week, another chance at seeing some snowflakes. The air mass accompanying Tuesday's snow chances is arctic in nature, keeping temperatures frigid throughout the day. This means there's no debate for the Tennessee Valley as to what kind of precipitation we are going to see. With highs only in the upper 20s, it will be snow.

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A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY has been issued for all of North Alabama. The band of snow moving in will take all day to enter and exit our region, so the timing of the advisory varies. For northwest portions of the Tennessee Valley, it begins at 3 AM and lasts until 6 PM. For southeastern locations, the advisory begins at 6 AM and expires at 9 PM.

Any way you slice it, there is a key travel time period that will likely be impacted by the light snow. Toward the west, it will be the morning and lunch hour. The east will see issues mainly after lunch but the Huntsville metro could see travel impact from the morning commute to the evening. In total, this band of snow will take 6 to 8 hours to enter and exit, meaning it's nearly a day long event in central portions of the Valley.

Accumulations: There's not a large amount of moisture associated with Tuesday's snow, so it will be light and scattered as it moves through. Snowfall amounts will be low as a result, generally ranging from .5" up to 1.00". Locally higher amounts are possible, but this should amount to no more than a good coating. Grass will still be peeking through a dusting of white.

Behind the snow comes the frigid air. It will be similarly cold to how we closed out 2017 a couple of weeks ago. Overnight lows both Tuesday and Wednesday will be in the low to mid teens and wind chill values Tuesday night will be as cold as -10°. This will be another situation to protect your pipes, in addition to your pets.